The Ash

It's been a long time since our last post...been busy dodging volcano ash

Since you last tuned in, we left Thailand for a night in Kuala Lumpur. There we stayed in a 5 star hotel for only $60/night! We have a secret website that shows us great deals on hotel and car rentals : ) Those who answer the trivia question at the end of this blog will receive the name of the website. I know, this blog is the coolest. Website referrals, yeah!

Moving along...we flew from KL to London (again, in business class seats because we rock when it comes to finding deals now. Comes with seasoned travelling skills ; ) We found business class seats one way to London for $700 for BOTH of us! 13 hour flight ladies and gentlemen)

Aaaaanyway, back to the ash. We arrived in London to stay with our fantastic friends Michelle and Chris and their two daughters Iris and Lana. We expected to stay for only a week as we had booked our trip to Africa on April 17. Well, as you can probably guess, all of that went sideways once Exleiepaiklsioriealksjakdjoha (spelling?) volcano errupted. So. Because our friends are fantastic they said, "stay, stay, get it sorted out!". So we did. We stayed in their lovely house in Barnes and spent the majority of our time rearranging flights, talking to our insurance company, rebooking Africa, rearranging rental car pickup and dropoffs, rejigging visits to friends and family in England and throw in a West End show starring Jonathon Pryce ("The Caretaker") which was AMAZING and a visit to the National Gallery. Oh, and a visit to Canada House in Trafalgar Square where we were interviewed on CBC, improptu, asking us about how the ash has affected our travels! Were we on? who knows...

So. Our Africa trip has been delayed and we now leave on May 4 to Zanzibar.

Our time in UK has been so lovely and English! We stayed at our friends' Roseanne and Gordon's house in Somerset which is a beautiful abode called Walnut Cottage. Their house is very close to a town called Street where Glastonbury Abbey is located. There, you can linger at the gravesite of King Arthur and his Queen Guinevere. We also climbed Tor Glastonbury where you can see a 360 degree view of the green lush countryside while steadying yourself against winds that feel strong enought to blow you right off the edge. While staying in Somerset we attended the Christening of Roseanne and Gordon's children, Elizabeth and Nicolas. Alex took his Godfather vows in the old church and is now proud to call himself Godfatha. I stood as proxy Godmother for Reneee and I hope I did you proud!

We also stayed with my Aunty Kathryn and Uncle Nick in Andover for a couple of nights (separated by 2 weeks!) where conversation and food dominate the evening! Home away from home, the term "cozy wozy" originated there. We laugh and eat and talk and drink wine and tea throughout the evening feeling so happy and lucky to be with family away from family.

Bristol or "Brissle" as it is known in the south is Alex's opportunity eat pie, oh and, and to visit our friends Vicky and Simon and their two boys Orson and Dexter! There is a shop there called the Pie Minister. They have the best meat pies in the world there and Alex will forever be grateful to Vicky for showing him The Way. I must admit, after trying their pies I am also converted and shall pay homage yearly.

Bath is one of our favourite places in England and our friends Pete and Sian make it memorable every time we visit. Well, this is the second time we've been here together so they've started a trend that must carry on. Pete and Sian treated us to a spa day yesterday right next the Roman Baths. We sat in hot mineral pools on the roof of the spa looking out over the spiral columned buildings and butter coloured stone of ancient Bath. The sun set a brilliant orange while the moon rose all pink and bigger than I've ever seen it!


We are so lucky and grateful to have friends and family that show us the best England.

It's back to beautiful Barnes tonight where we will stay a night with Chris and Michelle before we take off for Sweden tomorrow. There, we visit my cousin Justin who I haven't seen in over 20 years! Lots to learn and catch up on...

Then we are back to London for a night and a day then we fly to Zanzibar!

We're booked for home on May 28! It's so close!

LOVE
A&A

TRIVIA QUESTION:

In the past, what was Cambodia more commonly known as?